


Places

by wyntirrose



Series: Tales of Don [8]
Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-08-09
Updated: 2007-08-09
Packaged: 2017-11-10 03:19:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/461655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wyntirrose/pseuds/wyntirrose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Don considers his brothers and his place among them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Places

April once told me that family is the most important thing in the world. Mine is hardly typical, we don't exactly fit in with the Father Knows Best template, but we're a family nonetheless. I suppose that we're probably not related, not by blood anyway, but in the end it doesn't matter. We're a family now, and that's all that really counts. We've even fallen neatly into our familial positions, acting like we're right out of a psychology textbook. Jung could have written a whole dissertation on us. I can see it now, _The Archetypes of the Typical Turtle Family_.

Leo fits the profile of the first-born perfectly. He's serious, goal-oriented, rules-conscious, exacting, and responsible. He's almost a poster boy for the first-borns, he really is. Sometimes I have to wonder if it's all an act, though. He tries so hard to live up to it all; to Splinter's expectations, to bushido, to his duty, to his honour. I worry about him sometimes. I worry that one day he'll snap, buckle under this self-imposed pressure. There's really only so much he can take, and I worry that one day he'll fall under all his duties and we'll lose him forever.

Of course, Raphael isn't far behind. He's certainly competitive enough to be the first-born. He so wants to be in command. It's like a driving need that burns inside of him. I think he might actually make a good leader if it wasn't for his arrogance. He's just so aggressive, so angry; it's honestly frightening sometimes. I mean, he almost killed Mikey in one of his rages. I worry about him sometimes. I worry that one day he'll descend into a frenzy and never come out again. I worry that if that happens, he'll take us all down with him.

And then there's Mikey. If there's a youngest, it's him. He's a gifted artist and an incredible fighter but he's far more interested in goofing off and being a pain in everyone's tail. I know that he's intelligent and has incredible potential, but he flits it away. Everything comes so easily for him, and I have to admit that I resent him for it. All the same, I worry about him sometimes. I worry that one day he'll wake up and won't be able to take care of himself, won't have the maturity needed to deal with the real world.

And that just leaves me; the middle child, the peacekeeper, the mediator, the forgotten son. I'm not a leader, I'm not a fighter, I'm not an artist. I have my own skills, but they're all things that are rarely needed. I fix the things that are broken. I solve the ancient puzzles. I deal with the things the others don't want to. But all of that makes me is a tool that they use and then put back into the box. I worry about me sometimes. I worry that one day they'll wake up and realize they don't need me.


End file.
